Not much to update about; I guess it's just a "woohoo, TGIF!" post.

The weather's becoming nice at long last, huzzah. I can break out my sunglasses and go to class without a coat and not actually freeze during the walk. The sun came out just in time for the U-district street fair and the Pike Place Cheese Fair, too. Yay!!!

I registered Monday morning for Autumn quarter, and it went easy. Senior-standing is awesome to have; I meant to get up at 5:50-ish to register even though I realized I didn't need to, but that night I slept horribly, so I went ahead and slept through til my normal time of 8:10. Did my morning routine, got on the computer, and registered for all my classes with nary a hitch. I'm taking 2 creative writing classes (again! Did I not learn last autumn quarter? Apparently not), an American history course that is a writing credit (needed for graduation) and a classics course ("Sex, Gender, and Representation in Greek and Roman Literature"). The last one I'm sort of waffling on; if I want to pursue the Classics minor, I would have to take this class to earn the number of credits required.

I finally got around to going to a comics store and bought the latest issues of BtVS Season 8 and Serenity. Serenity: YAY! though issue 3 was confusing, and Buffy: O.O Joss is a genius at the Evil!Cliffhanger of Doom, but also apparently has something against couples living happily ever after. *flails*


Dr. Ramirez: How'd you do it?
Angel: I got the test ahead of time and passed it out to all the others?
Dr. Pearson: How did you get it?
Angel: The Mailman
[pause]
Angel: I strangled him and his body's decomposing in my locker. --Stand and Deliver

So. My Italian visa. Which I've been griping and moaning about and probably making a lot of you roll your eyes at me from all the melodrama.

But once more, with feeling: I HATE VISAS!!!!!!!!!!!

However, I recognize that had I been more informed and if I'd been made more aware of what all the components were and when they were all due, I would be less angry with the visa (yes, I'm speaking of it like it's a human being, roll with it!).

So, really, my anger is aimed mostly entirely at the IPE office. *fumes with the thought*

In order to obtain an Italian visa, I need to prove "financial security." The only way I manage to attend and live at UW is through financial aid. So, I submitted the document saying I'd show I have financial aid so the people at IPE could write a letter saying, "She has money. Let her go to Rome."

Admittedly, I dropped the ball a tiny bit on this part. I didn't realize I needed to have already applied for summer aid by the time I submitted my visa application so the woman working with us Creative Writers (we shall henceforth call her YoSaffBridge because I don't like either woman) could send the collective visa apps sometime in the last week, so that's my fault. But the financial aid office doesn't decide financial awards until May-ish.

Can we see the issue here?

I submitted my visa application the 10th of April. YoSaffBridge only emailed me about the problem on the 29th. I'm not even going to try and speculate what all she was doing in those TWO WEEKS she had it.

And now, comes the true source of my anger (because up until that point I was merely frustrated). YoSaffBridge's office hours are from about 8-11ish and then from 2-closing. I got there at 2PM, almost exactly.

She walks in about 2:15 from her break. Then proceeds to take about 15 minutes to do...something. I have no idea what. We talk, she says I need a visa even though the program directors said all we have to do is sign an indemnity form if we didn't get a visa and pretend we're tourists instead of students. I go down to the Financial Aid office, I burden a very nice woman (Lisa, her name was, who was MUCH nicer than the last person I went to about financing Rome) with estimating how much financial aid I would receive for summer, I go back up to IPE about 10 minutes later with the estimate....and YoSaffBridge is "out."

I get that sometimes "when you gotta go, you gotta go." However, YoSaffBridge was only available for....10 minutes out of the 45 minutes I was at IPE.

Mayhaps I'm at the wrong university. When your hours are said to be from 2-closing, you're supposed to be at your office at 2 o'clock NOT leaving wherever you took your lunch at 2 in order to get to your office whenever you get there. Isn't that how it works? Or am I just strange?

I'd heard that IPE was horrible, and you have to watch 'em like a hawk to make sure they don't screw you over, but from the few, brief instances I dealt with them before it didn't seem bad. The secretary/person in charge (she seemed to have more knowledge than all the advisors put together, but she was only greeting people and answering the phone...) was very nice and helpful. But after YoSaffBridge....yeah. *takes out her hawk eyes*

Blah. I don't even know how coherent some of that is. I just got onto the elevator to escape IPE and thought, "She is so going into my livejournal." Grrrr.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I now have some yummy French bread, pepperjack cheese, lunch meat, and apples. Oh, and Pepsi, too. *drinks Pepsi to make up for the bad, bad IPE woman* Also went to B&N to pick up a copy of issue 13 of BtVS for Freddie and the 2nd issue of Better Days, since B&N takes about 2-3 weeks to stock the new issues. But they didn't have Better Days, sadly. I'll probably go to Pike Place and see if a comic store there has it. *hopes*

And there'll be Korean food tomorrow! The KSA at UW is hosting a "Korean Food Market" on the HUB lawn. Thankfully the food is bought through tickets purchased at the Ticket Office, so I can use my Husky Card to buy food. *cheers* Since I don't have cash and I demand Korean food. I just hope it's good food, and not fast-food quality Korean food (though I will still buy it).

The Korean test I took yesterday was difficult. Thankfully, though, it wasn't difficult because I didn't know my stuff (though it was still a factor). There was one section where it says, "fill in the blanks to reflect the translation given." Problem? There was no translation. Just a sentence in Korean, a blank, and whatever the heck our brains could come up with. Kim-sunsengnim wasn't there for the test, too, because she had to survey her TAs or some such, so we had no one to ask. Then there was a part where we had to use a certain sentence connector and come up with a sentence based on cues given in English. I knew how to use the connector just fine, but the cues weren't working harmoniously.

Kim-sunsengnim noticed no one finished the test, though, so we get tomorrow to work on it after taking a glance at it today to refresh our memories what we had trouble with. We informed her about the lack of a translation to "reflect" from, so she'll fix that. I don't know what I'm going to do about the connector thing, but at least I'll have more time to B.S. it and get partial credit.

Had my Planets midterm today, too. I know I didn't get 100%, but I didn't utterly fail either! I'm predicting perhaps about a 3.0, maybe a little less if the TAs didn't get their coffee/chocolate/whatever. The labs are weighted more than the tests, though, and I've been getting an average of 9/10, so I'm not worried about my Planets grade (unless something changes for the worst in the class).

I'm feeling a little calmer now. Probably #11 on "You Know You're a Writer When" shirt: You write out everything that makes you frustrated/angry and you feel better afterwards. Heh.

And I gave Nikki her bday present, so now I can show the x-stitching project I did for her.
( David Tennant in sepia )


Buffy: You're right. Ooh! She's even affecting my work, now. She's the Titanic. She's a crawling black cancer!
[She brings her foot up, around and down onto a bench, breaking it in two.]
Buffy: She's... other really bad things.
Oz: On the plus side you've killed the bench, which was looking shifty.
....
Willow: [on the phone with Rupert Giles] Giles, I just talked to Buffy and, yeah, I think she's feeling a little... insane. [pause] No, not bitchy crazy, more like... homicidal maniac crazy. So I told her to come see you, OK? --S.4, Living Conditions

[takes place in the musical episode, so everyone's singing]
Anya: I've got a theory, it could be bunnies. [uncomfortable pause]
Willow: I've got a theor-
Anya [accompanied by rock music]:
Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes!
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses!
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for, anyway?
Bunnies! Bunnies! It must be bunnies!
[Long silence. rock music stops]
Or maybe midgets? --S.6, Once More With Feeling, Buffy

I was going to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but of course I got sucked into "just making one last quick check on facebook." I, for some reason or another, went to the Addicted to Firefly application, and saw a discussion header that sounded interesting (or possibly just dramatic; I don't think I can tell the difference anymore).

I can't believe this person.

Congratulations for taking everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) out of context, and having absolutely no sense of even the slightest, vaguest, most strictest sense of humor, or opening your mind and opinion even the smidgest bit.

Why do people watch/read/listen to/etc. things they don't agree with, and then proceed to bash it completely all to pieces because "OH NOES I DO NOT UNDERSTAND SO IT MUST BE WWWRROOOONNNGGG!!1!eleven!!!"

If it weren't midnight, I might actually have gone through point by point and argue the person. But I like my time, so I won't waste it.

I'm all for men not treating women like possessions. But when women (and men) go as far as the person did in this rant, claiming everything and anything between a man and a woman is nonconsensual, it's just ridiculous. And then they go so far as to start committing libel against Joss Whedon himself in the comments, and making claims against him about his and his wife's personal lives!

I consider myself a fairly open minded person. I couldn't care less about most things people do so long as it's not completely morally heinous, although sometimes it doesn't come out like I am a nonjudgmental, unbiased person because I have a serious case of foot-in-mouth where my mouth doesn't realize what goes on in my head doesn't get translated right to other people. But I don't understand why people think taking things so radically is good.

Bah. It's all ridiculous. And here I wasn't going to post about this (or at all) for another few days, but I might as well just hit the 'post' button. Good night!


Women: their rights, and nothing less; Men: their rights, and nothing more. --Susan B. Anthony

First day of spring quarter!

Moving back in yesterday was sorta not very interesting (by this of course I exclude the AWESOMEness Nikki and I had watching Friday Night Project [think British SNL, with much less censorship] which featured David Tennant). For no reason whatsoever, though, I went to bed at 2AM, even though I thought I might have class at 9:30 (my wondering about whether I had class at 9:30 is explained below). I guess I just wanted to keep the spring break alive for just a little longer...

So, I am taking an astronomy class called The Planets, which is arranged in a way that quiz/lab sections are Monday and Wednesday and the main lecture is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Obviously, since today is a Monday, there is no possible way we could be doing labs and such since we haven't even begun learning anything. So, I didn't know whether or not the quiz section met. Typically at the UW, the quiz sections don't meet during the first week of the quarter. So, by this reasoning, this quiz section wouldn't meet, right?

I didn't know for certain, though, since there was no email stating which case was true. Because I'm a paranoid person, I chose to go to quiz section. I figure, if it doesn't meet, then I can go take care of other stuff. Or possibly even eat breakfast, rather than making it a brunch.

I suppose I was rewarded. Quiz section was meeting. Blegh. I did not approve, though at least the TA is bright and alert at that hour, and by her own words she's TA-ed for the class a "million times" so she knows what she's about. Still....really? Convening the QS before the first lecture? Not cool.

And, slightly deviating: They took away the broken obelisk in Red Square!!!!
( An obscenely big image behind the cut, because LJ refuses my attempts to resize it )
It was true!! I read a post about it in the uw community, but I thought they'd bring it back in time by start of classes, since it was taken away for "cleaning" (...really? Why do they need to clean it??). 'Twas not the case. I took pictures ^.^

The Quad cherry blossoms were out, too, and I took a picture of that as well. ^.^ Was very happy. And, really, UW has this "Hogwarts-esque" thing going on. There's Hansee, which is like the school proper, and then there's all these little artsy-architecture-sculptures/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that's all around the school. In the Physics/Astronomy building, there's this neat little pendulum that swings according to the Earth's gravitational spin or whatnot, and in order to get to my QS classroom I have to take this winding staircase. Seriously. Hogwarts-extension.

Anyway, back to classes. 2nd Year Korean is the typical 2nd Year Korean, with lots of me panicking about being completely stupid. And I never noticed it, but they moved where the class was meeting! Originally we were meeting in the basement of Smith, which was fine by me, but now we're meeting on the 4th floor. 4 flights of stairs? NO. Yes, with all capitals. Elevator? Most definitely.

Chaucer....is where my lots nerdiness comes in. I had to run down the 4 flights of stairs and then another bit of stairs to exit Smith, run up the big long hill to Denny, climb another bit of stairs to enter, and get to the classroom, which took about 5 minutes, and then the 2 hour class started. The teacher's a bit...I guess absentminded? He kept starting a topic, waxing on about it and a few tangents, and then restarted the topic again, but it was alright since I kinda do that, too. But then he got started on the timeline and history of Medieval literature, and what those years encompass in terms of people and such, and I was enthralled by it. *shifts eyes* I guess if I'd been more on the ball about my college experience I would've been a history minor (or double major, even), but I was interested in learning about the different names for the eras and people of them. History of English literature, I suppose they'd call it. I suppose it's the feel of it being trivia that attracts me to learning/knowing it. Maybe something to pursue in grad studies--except I'm not intending to faint in horror today, so I'm going to stop right there on that idea.

I think I'm really going to like Paul (the teacher). He kinda gives me a Mr. Hesse vibe, which sorta isn't a good thing, but Paul has a good Mr. Hesse vibe. He obviously wanted to talk at length about how bad the UBookstore is about textbooks and which professors ordered theirs. He ordered his weeks ago, but they claim to have not received it, and he went on at length about how much trouble he went to in copying and pasting the different ISBNs and finding them and how there aren't convenient options and so on and so forth. I found it amusing, at least. AND he gave a good reason for why he wanted specific editions of the texts, which was my main concern and grief with the class, so I'm at ease about it now. And there's an OPTIONAL multiple choice midterm exam (read: Extra Credit), and a choice between writing a literary criticism or research paper that's due at the end of the quarter, and the only required exam is also multiple choice, and I actually want to read the texts, and and and and and....!!!!!!!!

....is it obvious how much of a nerdy English/Creative Writing major I am now? *angles herself to hide under her desk from all the rolling eyes*

Speaking of books, I'm waiting to receive my email confirmation from B&N that my books have been shipped to them, which should be today since I requested 2-day shipping and ordered them Saturday. Since the UBookstore is being stupid and the only text we need for the next 4 weeks is the book I have, I'm not too concerned.

I've written it in my Facebook, but I'll reiterate here for emphasis: Joss Whedon is making me into a comics collector. *headdesk* Buffy Season 8 which will be going for FIFTY ISSUES and Firefly comics which seem to be coming out in 3s, and Joss has said/confirmed that there will be a Shephard Book series (in comics, I assume) after the Better Days arc.

*flails* I'm a college student! I'm going to Rome! I have no money for all this fandom!!! *flails more*

Speaking of....Info session for Rome nao plzkthnx??? Y'know...so I can prepare all the necessary stuff BEFORE June???? Like, visas and such?? (which, visas are apparently paper/authorization saying a person can enter/exit the country.)

Anything else? Wellll, the weather's turned rotten after a sun-shiney day of blue skies, but that's almost like saying the Earth revolves around the sun. It's Seattle/Western Washington (because all Washingtonians know that the Eastern and Western sides might as well be different states), we can literally have blue skies, puffy clouds, overcast skies, hail, and rain all in the same day, if not the same hour.

I'll probably be posting random pics up on my Photobucket account; when I do, I'll link them here. Just a lot of random me-stuff.

Edit 7:00PM: Added the pic of the missing broken obelisk above. And if you want to see more pics of different parts of campus, leave a comment and maybe I'll give links.

Edit 10:00PM: I TOTALLY FORGOT!!!! 21 NEW EPISODES ORDERED FOR EUReKA!!!!!!!!!!!!! *FLAILS* It may not mean 22-episode season(s), but...21 EPISODES!!!!! *FLAILS MORE*


{Asked by Mrs. Clark if he knew what day it was.]
"Oh, yes; it is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God bless it. God bless you all. [He then lapsed into unconsciousness. He awakened later, and mumbled] Thomas Jefferson..." --Pres. John Adams
John Adams died on July 4, 1826. He is often quoted as having said "Thomas Jefferson still survives." with some depictions indicating he might have not expressed the entire statement before dying, i.e.: "Thomas Jefferson… still survi—", but some research indicates that only the words "Thomas Jefferson" were clearly intelligible among his last. Adams did not know that Jefferson, his great political rival—and later friend and correspondent—had died a few hours earlier that same 4th of July, 1826, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

I added the non-quote bit because it's interesting trivia--trivia that I actually learned from a non-school source, though for the life of me I can't remember from where.

I like sunny weather. It's even the good kind of sunny weather--not too hot sunny weather, but not bone-freezing cold sunny weather like Washington sometimes gets. And we even get some precipitation, so it's not like "OMG, we're heading into a drought!!! FREAKOUT!!!"

Last night at 11:20PM-ish I was sitting at my computer, thinking I might go to bed early 'cause I was feeling a little exhausted, but my iTunes just started a song I liked (Shounen Heart by Home Made Kazoku; JPop/Eureka seveN soundtrack) and I wanted to finish it.

My phone started ringing. I was totally perplexed, because I recognized the ringtone (but I am horrible at mental association, so I didn't recognize it as my mother's ringtone) but my first impression was that solicitors were calling me. Picked up my phone, saw it was Mom, and couldn't comprehend why she was calling me so late. Turned out she intended to call my sister, but hit my speed dial by mistake. *rolls eyes* Good thing I hadn't been in bed by then; I probably wouldn't have appreciated the wake-up call.

I was sitting in my Weather class today and the teacher put a bowl of water on the overhead for a demonstration, and the light from the overhead made a nice stripe of rainbow on the walls of the lecture hall. I think my attention was diverted for a good 2 minutes by all the pretty colors. *has bad, selective ADD*

Took a listening comprehension Korean test yesterday, which I was freaking out about, of course. I sometimes have to ask people speaking in English to repeat and enunciate what they say, how the heck am I supposed to keep track of what someone is saying in a foreign language?? The sheet Kim-sunsengnim handed out made it seem as though it was going to be a test of 25 diction (she speaks, we write down what we hear and translate it), and all of us were completely going insane over the idea of having to do 25 sentences in 40 minutes. Thankfully we only did about 15. It helped even more when she actually read the translation of a few sentences ^.^ I didn't do nearly as badly as I thought I would, though there were a few instances that I couldn't hear her clearly and didn't pick up a few verbs. Blah. It's done, and I didn't fail it, so I'm okay.

Korean's homework, however, is beginning to get a bit frustrating. My teacher is the head of the Korean program, and she doesn't have any faculty to help her, so we all understand that she's got a huge plate to deal with. But...she has this tendency to not be very clear about assignments and when they're due, if they're due at all. She doesn't collect or grade homework, though she assigns it in the hopes that we're motivated enough to learn Korean to do it on our own. Then, for this quarter, we had 2 compositions, a skit, and a project due. We finished 1 composition, so that's good.

The second composition she forgot about, and then decided to...merge it with the skit? Our composition becomes the skit? But then she also said that if we wanted we could do our composition on our own...... And there were 2 students who were saying that the composition could be done in lieu of the skit, which to me doesn't make sense because the skit is sort of an oral presentation, which is different from a writing assignment. But beyond giving us a topic, she hasn't really explained it to us. And now there's a project due (I think next Wednesday), but she hasn't said when the composition/skit/whatever-the-hell-it-has-become is due. *headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk* BAH! Humbuggery.

And I swear I won't do this on a weekly basis, but I AM SO GLAD ANTM GOT RID OF KIM!!!! Well, technically, she got rid of herself, but still. I have no idea why they chose her in the first place. There were a few girls I liked so much better than Kim, and they were shafted so she could just quit before she was even judged. Grr. Plus...could she have fit anymore "like"s in her last hoorah? "Like, I don't believe in, like, high fashion, like, the $2000 clothes? Like, who would, like, buy that stuff, like, it's so, like, expensive?"

*cue eye-twitch and aneurysm* I hope I was never that bad (I am aware I overused the "like" to some extent in high school). If I was, I apologize to those who were inflicted. And hopefully I'm much better now. Being declared an English major has helped me become more self-aware of my speech, I think.

Which, minor random note that no one will care about: the MyUW page (a sort of homepage for UW students) showed I was declared an "English (Creative Writing)" Major about a week ago. Yay!! *does a happy dance*

This "XP Antivirus protection" thing just popped up, and while I'm glad it's wiping out the bad stuff....GRRRAAAAH! I just want to surf the net!! I tried to hit the "cancel" button, but it wouldn't let me cancel. At all. I hit cancel, and it just took me through a loop of "run this program" "if you cancel it won't run" "remove this harmful programs" and then back again. *headdesk*

This had better be a legit program. Because if not....I don't care if I don't know how to be a hacker. I will become a hacker and I will find the source and I will DESTROY IT FOR RUINING THIS ONE DAY OF INTERNET SURFING!!!!!

And now, to remove that malicious software, I have to pay $49.95 for the "license" or whatnot. Seriously? I went through 5 minutes of trying to get the hell out of that circle of "run program" just so it could tell me, "Oh, you have spyware/etc.....but we won't take care of it unless you pay up." *headdesk*

Okay! Getting this entry back to a happier (or less frustrated) note, I register tomorrow. Going for ASTR 150: The Planets, ENGL 321: Chaucer (WooT!); and then finish off 2nd Year Korean (but I won't register for this right away, because I'll be saving a space in another English class for a friend [no worries, Nikki, I didn't forget!]). I was thinking of taking the Architecture 151 class, which is an easy 3 credits (so I hear) but...that'd extend my Tues&Thursdays longer than I'd like. Plus, it'd mean that my Tues&Thursdays would look like: Astronomy lecture: 9:30-10:50, Korean: 12:30-1:30, then Arch: 3:30-4:50. That's 2 two hour breaks in my day, and....I honestly hate those kind of days. I'd much rather get my day done and over with early, even if it means I have no break. It would do nothing for me, except perhaps boost my GPA by some negligible amount, so...I don't think I'll take the class. I'm okay with 15 credit-quarters.

Hansee Hall Ball in about a week! I'm not a dance-person, but it'll be nice to be "social." Plus....chocolate fountain for $3. Um, yeah, sign me up! The only downside would be having to buy dress and shoes, but I figure I should invest in them anyway for later in life. I don't know precisely what "later in life" will entail, but...best be prepared, neh?

Okay! Randomly, livejournal logged me out of my own account, even though I have it set to never log me out. Um....it's a good thing livejournal kept the entire entry so I could copy it before I logged back in, because when I did the entry was about 3/4 missing.

Umm...okay. Is it some sort of hidden message sent to me by livejournal or some other unknown forces...??


(Wash is playing with plastic dinosaurs.)
Wash: (as Stegosaurus) Yes...yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it...this land. (as Allosaur) I think we should call it your grave! (as Stegosaurus) Ah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! (as Allosaur)Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh! Now DIE! --Firefly (sidenote: I went looking through my previous lj-Firefly entries, to make sure I didn't use this quote already...and found out my last Firefly quote was Jan. 28. Heh, talk about unplanned regularity....)

And I shall say it again for those who missed it.

OMG IT SSSSSSSNNNNNOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!!!!

I was actually up when it started layering, which was around 4 A.M. because I totally misjudged how difficult my homework/test was, but I couldn't really appreciate the full effect because, hello, 4 A.M. doesn't provide the best of light. It snowed some more while I was out and about at class, so I wandered aimlessly during my hour break, just letting the snow fall into my hair and probably brightening my cheeks up to a nice, puffy red that is entirely unbecoming of me, but you know what? I didn't care!!! 'Cause it was snowing and it made everything GOOD.

The snow's going away, which makes my friends (arbitrarily putting the plural there, because I know my friends love the snow too) and I sad, but supposedly it's going to snow more tonight. Hopefully this isn't like the "it'll snow over the weekend" kind of snow, because Saturday it was just cloudy and then Sunday it was nothing but clear blue skies. Kinda put a downer on things.

Because of some outside interference my Korean class didn't have class Friday, and thus made our test a take-home test. I printed it out at home, and I knew it was supposed to be more difficult than the in-class test for obvious reasons.

The level of difficulty was ridiculous! I spent at least 4 hours doing it all. That doesn't include the hour I had to put aside to type up my film journal that was also due today. It got to the point where, for some of the questions where I had to put a reply, I was sorely tempted to write, "He will want to shoot himself in the foot for taking so many classes." (don't mean to be morbid, it just fit really well with the prompt). Blah. I wound up getting 2 hours of sleep in total. I'm not feeling all that bad right now, in actuality. I don't know if it's because I somehow "stored up" sleep over the weekend, or if I'm just getting used to pulling all-nighters and my body's like, "oh, okay, it's one of those nights, is it?" I think it's the caffeine, though. *curls fingers possessively around her precious Pepsi*....and I totally didn't mean for all that alliteration. Are all the English classes finally having some sort of an effect? Good gracious, I hope so......

And then of course everyone got into a whole heap of panic when one of the students started tossing around, "Korean essay" and such, not really equating it with the composition. None of us were any happier with the thought of the composition, but at least they're not two separate assignments. That's due Wednesday, which makes me just so gleeful! </sarcasm>

Also have my Weather midterm this Wednesday. Blegh. At least it's only 30 minutes, and most of the questions are multiple choice.

I was thinking about being a Summer Orientation leader this summer, but A) I don't know if I'd be required to find my own housing (I think I would) and 2) I want to do the Creative Writing program in Rome this summer, which conflicts with it. I don't think I'm going to be an Orientation leader, but *shrugs* I guess it would've been a good way to have an entry-level position.

Speaking of the Creative Writing program....They finally have some semblance of a webpage up for it! Here! It merely states that prospective people should look back on 2007's program, and some bit about financial stuff, but at least I know they're planning on it! I just don't know if I can afford it or not; supposedly board is not included in the expenses, and then of course there's the plane tickets required, and then the tuition/program fee itself. I'd probably have to get a private loan to pay for a good portion of it, which I don't want at all. I don't think financial aid provided by the University would get me through both the abroad program and my fall quarter. *sigh* I'll just have to wait until they have info sessions and see what they advise.

I turned in my CW-application last Friday, and they are supposed to respond by the 5th Friday of the quarter (the Friday I turned it in was the 3rd of the quarter). I'm actually pretty okay with the thought of being an English Lit major if I'm not accepted. Completing all the credits will be easier as just a Lit major, and I could still go on the Rome program if I'm not a CW major. I have thoughts floating at the back of my head saying, "If I do get accepted...does that mean I'm beholden to it?" which I know is just the lazy bum side of me trying to avoid more work, but it's still something I should take into consideration if I do get accepted.

I got Nikki lured in with Firefly's series premiere, and she loved it. ^.^ I like getting people hooked onto shows I like. I get so easily pulled into other shows, it's nice to have a change of pace. There was a part where [WARNING: SPOILER FOR FIREFLY!] Kaylee seems to have died, and Nikki was just absolutely horrified at the thought, and I was sitting behind her trying not to crack up because I knew Mal's bad, bad ways. I managed to fake my snorts of laughter into what sounded like choking back tears, apparently, so it was all okay on that front.

My sister finally mailed my phone today (rather than Saturday like I was expecting), which I'm thankful for. I like to think I'm not dependent on the thing, but...without that phone, there's no immediate way to get ahold of me, which wouldn't bode well in case of an emergency or something. Email doesn't really do much of anything, unless I'm carrying around my laptop (which would be just plain dumb) or some sort of device that accesses the Internet...like a cell phone! Which defeats the purpose. So, yes, cell phone on its way = good. Now I just hope the UW mail system doesn't break down somewhere.

Nikki and Donald (her next door neighbor) found this really cool "experiment" where you take a bottle of Diet Coke and drop Mentos in it, and it creates a fountain of fizz and carbonation and all sorts of goodness. They had a free 20 oz Diet Coke from a Dominoes pizza deal, and they bought some Mentos from Ians, and we (Nikki, Donald, I-wen and I) all went outside onto Denny Field to try. It didn't work, and we decided to try again, except this time with a 2 Liter bottle. It almost-kinda-not-really worked, and we were sad and trotted back to Hansee, trying to figure out why it didn't work (we didn't really read through the directions all the way....not that the directions were explicit). I was carrying the bottle, and I dumped it into the garbage lid-first.

It exploded!

We realized we'd made a mistake in keeping the lid screwed on, which didn't allow air to come in and start the carbonation process. We're gonna try again later this week, with some improvements on our process. Hehehehehe.

At least now we know what to do if we have lots of dining plan money left (which is no longer refunded to us at the end of the year, curse you HFS!!!). Look up fun food experiments and do them. Hee.

And as I'm sure you noticed, I changed my layout. Went through 5-8 different premade layouts, and all of them had just one tiny little thing that was missing (first was a tags sidebar, then icons for each entry, couldn't change color schemes, then back to tags, etc. etc.)

[Blair has been using Larry in a research project to see the effects of television on monkeys]
Jim: They found Larry.
Blair: Where?!
Jim: That mini-kong of yours busted back into my apartment, and he trashed it. Now, Animal Control has the place surrounded, right? So I'm gonna give you half an hour to bag him, and if he doesn't come out with his hands up, well then I call in a SWAT-sniper.
Blair: Did they say what he was doing?
Jim: He was watching TV.
Blair: You're kiddin me!... What program? --The Sentinel

All the snow melted by Sunday from rain, which made me sad, but I gave the snow a good send-off by watching Serenity con commentary. And now, on Facebook's Addicted to Firefly application, I'm an aficionad[a] with 13150 (Edit 7:38: I'm now a "Savant" with 14190 points) (with 10 points per correct answer), and 675 out of 26,221 flans (Firefly/Serenity term....). ^___^ You see now why I say fandom rules my life? Or I would say, if I actually had opportunities to say it?

Also: at some point during my Firefly-obsessing, I was muttering aloud to myself (probably in reference to how certain people try to call themselves "fans" of Firefly and yet don't have the most basic of knowledge; I'm new to Doctor Who and I do consider myself a fan, but when someone asks me who K-9 is or who Bad Wolf is or what TARDIS stands for I know the answer....that's all I'm asking of these other "Addicted to Firefly" people....and wow that totally spun off-topic....), and at some point in my monologue I said, "Firefy flans."

.....This is exactly what Nathan Fillion said. This is how the whole "flan" thing started. And all this time I'd wondered how someone could say that, and now I've gone and done it. It overjoyed me for a moment, which is completely sad and pathetic, I know, but...heh. I'm completely on the same page as Fillion.

I completely misjudged how much rain was coming down, and went out in regular tennis shoes. I did pretty well, since I know where all the major puddles are in the UW, but just when I got to Kane hall I went through a side door where there was a backed-up drain. The puddle lake was a lot deeper than I first thought, and I executed a (might I say rather elegant) mid-air hop and leap. The water very nearly went over the part of the shoe where the shoe ends and my socks begin, but I saved my feet, so all was well. And thank goodness I bought my new coat; my old one would've soaked straight through the first ten steps outside the door. As it is, my coat's outer fabric doesn't dry quickly. *sigh*

I got back, finally took back the rented fridge so I don't have this big brown box of no use that takes up too much space anymore. I got some food (Ian's has these new sandwich-in-a-box things from Oscar Mayer that are pretty darned tasty--they're by the cheese/dessert-cakes/pita bread/prewrapped banana breads), and then I proceeded to swivel my desk around. I did it for 2 reasons: one, my back is no longer turned to the door and I can see pretty much everything in my room from my desk (I had to give up the bookcase that's on the side of my desk as a nightstand, but it's a small loss) and B) swinging my desk around let me give some space to my rocking chair. I really like the new set-up; my seat is next to the heater (and also the window, which is right above the heater [no, I don't know what the architects were thinking]) and it actually cleans up a lot of the plugs&cords; they're now all hidden away under my bed, and since I don't need access to them unless I'm going home, I should be fine and dandy. Plus, if I want to use my computer in bed or something, I can actually do so. It's all win-win.

Got some new "All I want for Xmas" icons. The only one here is a TARDIS one; if you want to see the rest that I got, it's at my GJ. There were actually so many that I wanted, but....a person doesn't really need 15 Xmas icons for one season. Especially when they have so many other icons that they absolutely love and want to use (again and again and again and again....)

I had dinner with Kathryn, and while we were at the 8 (the restaurant is called the 8) we were hoping for some Turkey-Day dinner, but we were disappointed by the teriyaki chicken (I love teriyaki chicken....just not the cheap Pan-American [no, it's not redundant] version). And then we went over to the pasta-side...

Kathryn: "Is that mashed potatoes?!"

It was. They were serving mashed potatoes with pasta. With marinara/alfredo pasta. 'Twas very, very odd, but we decided it was a small sign that we were meant to have our Turkey Day dinner. It was too bad Nikki had to go to a Switchfoot/Relient K concert instead of hangin' out with us and eating some misplaced mashed potatoes alongside us ('cause, y'know, mashed potatoes and concerts are totally on the same level). We kinda wanted vegetables (other than potatoes) with our potatoes and chicken, but there wasn't any to be had. So, we settled for ice cream.

Yes. Vegetables are totally replaceable by ice cream. Particularly when they're Rainbow Sherbert push-pops.

And those are the most AMAZING things in the world. There's just something about them that a pint of chocolate and vanilla ice cream or a Drumstick can't quite match.

I'm almost done with autumn quarter/school for the 2007 year. By this time next week I'll be at home........Hooommmeee!

And not that anyone really needs further proof of my insanity addiction to Doctor Who, but I could've sworn I'd heard the TARDIS somewhere nearby. Had Nikki not been at the aforementioned concert, I would've thought that she'd been lurking outside my door with her cell phone....*shrugs* So now I randomly hear TARDISes. 'Tis all shiny.

Because I felt like it (and because I wanted something more to procrastinate with) I'm posting a poem behind the cut. There's a draft one and a draft two of the same poem, where draft two is substantially massacred edited by my own hand.

( Draft 1 and 2 of Poem 2 )

You can see why I'm not really going into the whole "professional poet" daydream. >.< Yes, I do have poems written about far more "ambitious" subject matter, but....I'll wait until I have a draft of those that I actually like/when I'm not afraid of people trying to put me into therapy.

[Flashback to Mal trying to sell Zoë on the worthiness of his new ship.]
Zoë: Sir... you paid money for this? On purpose?
...
Mal: Ship like this, be with you till the day you die.
Zoë: Because it's a death trap.
. . .
Mal: A-and try to see past what she is, and on to what she can be.
Zoë: What's that, sir?
Mal: Freedom, is what.
Zoë: [pointing] No, I meant, what's that?
Mal: Oh. Yeah, just step around that. I think something must've been living in here. --Firefly, Out of Gas

So....I started classes thinking I'd only had two tests/quizzes and that I would fail them both.

I went to Korean and had my first discovery of the day.

We had a second test in Korean.

Yeahhhh.....Was not a happy face on me at that time. And this was after I was unfortunately surprised by the realization that I didn't do my two pages of homework that was assigned yesterday.

I did my homework before class, and then the bell to signal class ending rang. No one came out. The ten minute passing period went by, and STILL no one came out. Finally they started leaving, and they were saying that the comprehensive test we were taking was damned difficult. And it was. And we had TWENTY minutes to do BOTH tests, even though the previous thirty minutes was nothing but us doing busy work that we weren't going to turn in.

>.< The third unwelcome surprise of the day. Was NOT happy.

I had no idea what the hell my Econ teacher was on, but today in lecture he went from applying law of demand to apples, then sex & fertility, and rural vs. urban living, and by that point I tuned him out and just stared up at the ceiling.

I went to cinema studies class where I was expecting my second (turned out to be third, thanks to Korean *shakes fist*) quiz that I would fail miserably since I didn't do any most of the readings.

The fourth surprise of the day. And it was an EASY test! Thank goodness!!!

But yes, I went scavenging on LJ to celebrate the weekend (....wow....aren't I an adventurous person?) and I decided to indulge in my fangirlism. Got 2 icons specifically devoted to such a thing, and a Rayne icon ^.^ It wasn't the Rayne icon I was looking for, but I may look for it again tomorrow and fill my 15th icon with a second Rayne icon.

Jayne: I'll kill a man in a fair fight, or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight… If he bothers me, or if there's a woman… Or if I'm gettin' paid. Mostly only when I'm gettin' paid

[After Inara invites the crew to join her at the companion training house]
Wash: Inara. Nice to see her again.
Zoë: So... trap?
Mal [simplistically, as though it's obvious]: Trap.
Zoë: Are we going in?
Mal: Oh, it ain't but a few hours out.
Wash: Yeah, but, remember the part where it's a trap?.
. . .
Kaylee: But how can you be sure Inara don't just wanna see you? Sometimes people have feelings. And I'm referring here to… people.
Mal: You all were watching, I take it?
Kaylee: Yes.
Mal: Did you see us fight?
Kaylee: No...
Mal: Trap. --Serenity

I proved my grace and agility by swinging a heavy metal door straight into my knee at 10:30 in the morning, which did not bode well for the rest of the day. *bows*

Played 5 hours of FFIX, and watched the majority of The Polar Express. It seems like a good Christmas movie, almost family-tradition worthy. I may go ahead and watch the entirety of it this weekend.

Baked cookies, though the bottoms got burnt. Yummy peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies. I had about five or six within thirty minutes of them coming out of the oven.

And then I ate my dinner of mac 'n cheese.

I was scrolling through the Wikiquote Firefly section looking for a short, funny quote to post as my sign-off quote, and about ten minutes later I realized I had too many quotes I wanted to use. So....everyone should go watch all 14 episodes and the movie Serenity and revel in the humor that is Joss Whedon's impeccable genius.

[Mal talks to Patience on the vid.]
Mal: Well, we... may not have parted on [the] best of terms. I realize certain words were exchanged. Also, certain...bullets...
...
[After Mal and Patience, who had previously shot Mal after a similar bartering situation, have exchanged pleasantries and signed off]
Mal: You know, I do believe that woman is planning to shoot me again.
...
Jayne: Here's a little concept I been workin' on. Why don't we shoot her first?
Wash: It is her turn. --Serenity (pilot episode), Firefly

Just something for me to do, because I'm bored. Plus, it sort of goes with the post below.

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence (or more) from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favorite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don't mention anything else -- this is merely to whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

I went ahead and pasted 2 sentences, because giving only 1 is less interesting and can be taken far too easily out of context. But as you may see from the extensive list....I have a LOT of ideas. Just no ability to flesh them out into wonderfully-completed works.

Mortal Kombat:
( Ice Cream-Capade )

( Untitled One-Shot )

( Untitled )

( One-Shot with its Sequel )

( Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

( 2nd Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

Final Fantasy X/-2:
( Dress Rehearsal--Chapter 3: Trainer )

( Crash-Course Parenting )

( Voiceless Witness )

( Untitled One-Shot )

Eureka:
( Untitled Multi-chaptered fic )

( Untitled One-Shot )

( Dartboard of Eureka )

Crossover(s):
( No Three in Teamwork )

( Naruto/MK X-over )

( Firefly/BtVS/Stargate/MK X-over )

I would put quotes here, but.....I think I'm going to consider all those 2-sentences my quotes for this entry.

I'm in a very good mood today. Have no idea why. I was sitting in my 2nd to last class which is not entirely exciting at all and suddenly I realized.....I'm in a good mood. I had no idea how terrible my moods have been until today when I felt better than in the last few weeks. Of course, this is not to be confused with having a good day, as today was not my best day ever. No, my feet ache from walking all the time, the main University Bookstore wouldn't stop being a dumb @$$ and just take money off my Husky Card even though its branch would and so therefore I didn't get the real gift I wanted to give to my sister (although this new gift is probably better, as she's on a knitting-frenzy as of late; my mood could also have been bolstered by some of the titles I saw while meandering through the bookstore: something on Bullshit, Sanctity of Marriage [in which they blast the hypocrites who claim gays would ruin the sanctity of marriage] and 50 Boyfriends that are worse than yours; you gotta love it!) and I still have one class to go before I can end my day, and the class ends at 9:50 so it's going to be a *very* long time until I can go sleep. Plus, I have put myself on a restriction that I will not drink Pepsi (or hopefully any other caffeinated and/or carbonated beverage) for a week, just to see if I can live.

And yet....I'm still in a good mood.

Plus, my textbook that was nonexistent for my class (the one mentioned above, no less) finally got photocopied so I went and picked it up today.......AND FRICKIN' SAVED $30!!!!! YAY! YAY for only having to pay $3.91! YAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAY!!!!!!! This is officially the last thing for which I have to pay for classes and general university expenses....unless materials come up later, for which I'd say Boo! but probably would still wind up buying and putting myself deeper into debt. Wah.

Ooh, and I also bought some shampoo and conditioner that smells really good: juicy green apple. Yay! Now I don't have to worry when I run out of my other shampoo/conditioner. Teehee.

.....I really don't know why I'm in such a good mood. It's kinda freaking me out now.......

And now.....for the really really really REALLY long line of quotes that you just LOVE!

Mal: What was that?
Wash: Did you *see* that?
Mal: Was that the primary buffer panel?
Wash: It did seem to resemble-
Mal: Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship for no apparent reason?
Wash: Looks like.
Mal: I thought Kaylee just checked the entry couplings. I have a very clear memory of it!
Wash: Yeah well, if she doesn't give us some extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is going to get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define interesting!
Wash: [deadpan] "Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die"?
Mal: [deadpan expression, on the ship intercom] This is the captain, we have a lil' problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence, and then... explode... [to wash] Can you shave the vector?
Wash: I'm doing it! It's not enough.
Mal: Just get us on the ground!
Wash: That part will happen pretty definitely.
Jayne [coming out of his bunk loaded with guns/weapons]: We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode!
Mal: Jayne, how many weapons you plan on taking? You only got two arms.
Jayne: I just get excitable...as to choice. Like to have my options open.
Mal: I don't plan on any shooting taking place during this job.
Jayne: Yea, what you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar.
Mal: ...no grenades.
Jayne: What..? Aw!
Zoe: We crashing again?
Mal: Talk to your husband. Mule prepped?
Zoe: Good to go, Sir. Just loading her up.
Zoe [to Jayne]: Those grenades?
Jayne: Yeah, Captain doesn't want them.
Zoe: Jayne, we're robbing the place. We're not occupying it.
--Serenity
Long live Serenity/Firefly. We Browncoats will never give up on our Serenity crew (even if they are....passed away....*bawls*)

Christmas. Yeaahhhhh.........is it bad that it was just the presents I really cared for? I mean, yes, I appreciate my family and all but...........Christmas just didn't have that special *yay* quality this year. I dunno. It might be all this independence stuff. It's made me all "Nah, I don't need nobody, I got my computer and my books and my DVDs and" etc. etc. *sigh* I'm turning into the next Scrooge. Yipes.

New Years was kinda just same old New Years. I don't even really celebrate it anymore. The only thing I really cared about was the moron outside shooting off fireworks a half hour before midnight. Grrrrrrr. People do sleep on New Years Eve, inconsiderate moronic pig! GRRR GRRR GRRR!

And now......I'm back at college. Yay! Happiness happiness happiness!

....I think it's a bad sign that I'm happier at campus than at home, with family. Hum.....

Well....I'm gonna go get some sleep cause I have a 9:30 CLASS TOMORROW!! Ugh, and I haven't woken up before 10:00 for the last two weeks........ickiness.

[A bomb is attached to the ship; Mal asks Kaylee if she can bypass the bomb]
Kaylee: Sure. Yeah. [long pause] I think so. 'Sides, if I mess up, it's..... not like you'll be able to yell at me.
[Mal looks at her incredulous, a bit disconcerted]

I've just had some Chocolate Peanut Butter Haagen Dazs Ice cream, some Raspberry Lemonade, and some decent Bagel Bites. Isn't my diet just the healthiest, lol?

But it turns out that I needn't have gotten up at 6:00 A.M. to do my homework. So many people didn't get theirs done, that the FIG leader extended it til next Thursday. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Also in class, we had a "debate" over Stem Cell Research. It turned out to be a 2-1 tennis match, with 2 people on the Con side and 1 person on the Pro side. The Pro side one, I felt, because the guy just talked so much and said so many big words that I wonder if even *he* knew what he was talking about. The Con side had to struggle a little, because they were more of a Pro side, I think. One girl harped on the topic of "you're killing babies! Human life is a certainty! You mean, soulless men!" and the other girl wound up dragging the debate into the subject of human population control--which I share the same philosophy, but that's a topic for another day.

I've also discovered that, through my school, I get free downloads from Napster. Huzzah! I can get music! Yay!!! Lots of Goo Goo Dolls, Sarah McLachlan, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Three Doors Down, Nickelback, and lots more are gonna be downloaded! W00T!

Since I got up so early, I decided I wanted an easy evening. Here're the fruits of my labor. Ciao!

( This is not a link. It's just your imagination )

Really Huge Long Quote (But Really Hugely Good Quote):

[Simon pleads with the hill folk, who have tied River to a stake, preparing to burn her.]
Simon: She has done nothing to you! If she dies tonight, it won't be God's will that killed her! It'll be you! Your lunacy, your… ignorance!
. . .
[Unable to free his sister, Simon climbs onto the pyre and holds River.]
Simon: Light it.
River: Time to go.
[A blast of wind signals the arrival of Serenity. Jayne cocks a shotgun from the cargo hold while Mal and Zoë approach on foot.]
Mal: Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?
Zoë: Big damn heroes, sir.
Mal: Ain't we *just*?
. . .
Patron: This is a holy cleansing. You cannot think to thwart God's will.
Mal: Y'all see the man hanging out of the spaceship with the really big gun? I'm not saying you weren't easy to find. It was kinda out of our way, and he didn't want to come in the first place. Man's lookin' to kill some folk. So really it's his will y'all should worry about thwarting.
[Mal turns to Simon.]
Mal: Gotta say, Doctor — your talent for alienatin' folks is near miraculous.
Simon: Yes, I'm very proud.
[Mal addresses the crowd again.]
Mal: Cut her down!
Patron: The girl is a witch.
Mal: Yeah, but she's our witch. [cocks gun] So *cut her the hell down.*